Japanese prosecutors have amended one of their indictments against former Nissan Motors chairman Carlos Ghosn, alleging that he received US$20 million from Saudi Arabian businessman, Khaled Al Juffali.

A court in the US state of Florida has dismissed Fluor Enterprises' claim that Duke Energy wrongfully drew down a US$67 million letter of credit (L/C) issued in connection with Fluor's construction of a gas-fired electrical generation facility in Citrus County, Florida.

A Canadian oil company has had its licence to produce oil withdrawn for failing to produce the letter of credit (L/C) the Albanian government wanted to guarantee that work specified in its licence would be completed.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved an umbrella facility of up to US$100 million to provide financing support for letters of credit (L/Cs), loans and guarantees to overcome constraints to private sector investment in renewable power projects in Pacific island countries.

Letter of credit (L/C) backing for a bond may help contain a debt crisis at one of China's best known private equity houses, but it appears to justify long held concerns about lenders providing Chinese L/C backed bonds.

Sri Lanka's credit system liquidity is expected to receive a boost after cash tied up in import letters of credit (L/Cs) for cars was released into the banking system according to the governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

Paperless trade solutions provider essDOCS has entered into an agreement to integrate its CargoDocs Doc Ex solution into the blockchain-based Voltron application. Voltron, which is developed on R3's Corda platform, provides a multi-bank channel for companies to digitally manage the issuance of letters of credit (L/Cs) and electronic presentation of trade documents, including title documents such as bills of lading (B/Ls).

German integrated lifestyle clothing company Tom Tailor has used its environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework to introduce supply chain financing solutions to replace the letters of credit (L/Cs) it used to rely on in transactions with suppliers and distributors.

Zimbabwe's cooking oil producers and the country's central bank governor appear to be at odds over whether foreign currency and letters of credit (L/Cs) are available for the raw materials the manufacturers need.

Since the publication of the joint 2017 Wolfsberg Group, ICC and BAFT Trade Finance Principles, much has happened in the way of discussion and cooperation between various industry groups in the space of financial crime related to trade finance.
This updated edition has been expanded to offer more detail around what is meant by various risk mitigation activities.

The ICC Banking Commission conducted a survey on the legal status of eB/Ls when converted from an electronic record. This report sets out the relevant issues found and the results of the survey, which covered ten jurisdictions.

The City of Calgary has substantially replaced the requirement for property developers to put up letters of credit (L/Cs) to guarantee they fulfil their construction contracts and associated obligations with a Development Surety Bond (DSB).

Australian wool exporter Fox & Lillie and HSBC say they have completed the first Voltron blockchain network transaction with a digitised letter of credit (L/C) between Australia and China for a wool shipment.

Citigroup has quietly shelved its plans for a bank-backed cryptocurrency but remains keen to pursue the use of blockchain applications in other areas according to Citi's global head of innovation for treasury and trade solutions, Gulru Atak.

Sri Lanka will use letters of credit (L/Cs) opened for imported automobiles to provide incentives for buyers of electric vehicles and disincentives for purchasers of hybrid fossil fuelled-electric vehicles.

Fugitive Indian celebrity jeweller Nirav Modi, wanted for his part in an alleged US$2 billion fraud in which he employed fraudulently obtained letters of credit (L/Cs) and letters of undertaking (LoUs), is facing legal proceedings in Britain to extradite him from there back to India.

Norwegian software vendor Commercial Banking Applications (CBA) says it has released a new user-friendly solution to comply with the SWIFT electronic messaging platform's new letter of credit (L/C) requirements.

Global bank HSBC is seeking to forge ties with South Korean banks to launch a blockchain platform enabling companies to process and settle their invoices for trade efficiently, according to Korean press reports.HSBC is looking to commercially launch the Voltron platform in a project that began within the R3 blockchain consortium that aims to resolve issues of time-consuming processes and faulty documentation associated with paper-based letters of credit (L/Cs).

Zimbabwe's central bank governor has blamed the time taken to arrange and execute letter of credit (L/C) transactions for fuel shortages and prices hikes while fuel consumption in the country is 20 per cent less than normal.

Tanzania is still awaiting payment for the equivalent of US$180 million for 100,000 tonnes of cashew nuts the government controversially agreed to sell to a Kenya-based company, Indo Power, in a deal signed in Arusha in January.

HSBC's unit in the Philippines has said it is ramping up its digitisation efforts to be more cost-effective and has launched a tracker that allows customers online access to their letter of credit (L/C) transactions.